This dog was trapped in a shipping container for eight days... and she was hiding some stowaways of her own! ❤️ We spoke to Coast Guard Officer Lucas from U.S. Coast Guard Heartland about how his team heard scratching from one of the containers, and Andrea from Forever Changed Animal Rescue told us what it was like to see Connie give birth!
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00While we were doing our inspection, we heard some barking.
00:04Oh, it's scratching, dude!
00:08And once we narrowed down the container,
00:12she slowly came out, and we were just so shocked.
00:16Yup, there's a dog!
00:19Hi, puppy!
00:21We were able to get the shipping papers, and she was locked in that container for eight days
00:25with no food or water.
00:27She was sweet, personal, and happy to be out of the container for sure.
00:33In my ten years in the Coast Guard, I have not come across a dog locked in a container before.
00:38She was just probably a stray dog in one of the junkyards that got trapped in the container.
00:53Hi!
00:55I saw a social media post from the shelter, and I knew that we had to save her.
01:00So we flew her all the way up to us in Maryland.
01:04The day she arrived, we did her intake exam.
01:10And sure enough, she was pregnant.
01:15It's pretty miraculous, because she went eight days with no food and water while she was pregnant.
01:20Like, she's a survivor.
01:22As a veterinarian, we wanted to be able to help Connie and give her medical care.
01:26So she came to my house, and I started to foster her.
01:32It took a little time to gain her trust.
01:34That's to be expected, because she was living on the street.
01:37But she's a sweet, gentle soul.
01:40She's a good girl.
01:42She started showing signs of weird behaviors.
01:47She was pacing. She was panting.
01:52And I was like, I feel like she might be going into labor.
01:55I was up all night with her.
01:58At around 4 a.m., she was finally giving birth.
02:04I was very nervous.
02:09Miraculously, she did great.
02:11The puppies came out healthy.
02:14They started nursing right away, and Connie was a great mother.
02:22It was a joy to watch.
02:25Two weeks later, they opened their eyes.
02:27And then from there, they started crawling.
02:31After that, they really took off.
02:35They're definitely strong-willed, just like their mom.
02:42Once the puppies reached eight weeks, they were old enough to be adopted out.
02:46Beacon was the one that always came and sat in our laps.
02:52This is after an hour of playing.
02:58He kind of chose us, and we chose him, and now he's never leaving.
03:03All the puppies found an amazing home.
03:06The adopters we have are phenomenal.
03:09We're already talking about getting a reunion together.
03:17Sweet little Connie ended up landing one of the best homes you could imagine.
03:21She's up in Rhode Island with a very special family, with two children who absolutely adore her.
03:27She's going to live out the rest of her life as a spoiled house dog.
03:31After all she's been through, she's such a great dog, and that really gets us to keep going.